Strap In! What It's Like to Fly on SpaceShipTwo

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While SpaceShipTwo builder Scaled Composites prepares the
commercial spaceship for its first rocket-powered test flight,
owner Virgin Galactic has been thinking about all the armchair
astronauts lining up to finally test their space legs.

Their fliers won't go far -- just 65 miles or so above the
southern New Mexico launch site -- and they won't be gone long.
The supersonic sprint beyond the atmosphere will last only a few
minutes.

But Virgin Galactic is betting that the ride, albeit short, is
sweet enough to warrant its $200,000 fare. As of last week, 545
people had put down deposits or paid the full fee to find out for
themselves.

So what will the experience be like? Here's a perspective from
SpaceShipTwo lead pilot David Mackay.

After a three-day training program, passengers will leave
Virgin's terminal at the newly built Spaceport America, located
near Las Cruces, NM, and climb aboard SpaceShipTwo, which they'll
find hanging beneath the twin-boomed White Knight carrier
aircraft. The six-passenger, two-pilot vehicle is based on the
prize-winning SpaceShipOne prototype, which now hangs in the
Smithsonian Institution's Air & Space Museum.

Unlike the rocket ride to space, which will come after
SpaceShipTwo is released, White Knight's flight up to about
50,000 feet will be long and slow.

"It's a low-key part of the experience, but I think it will be
quite interesting," Mackay said at the International Symposium
for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight last week.

"It's probably a little bit like a roller coaster ride where
you're all excited just to strap in and then you have this long,
steep climb, up to that initial drop. Some people love that sort
of thing. Others perhaps get a little bit nervous. We have to
think about that -- how to make everyone relaxed and keep them
calm during that part of the flight," he said.

Upon reaching the launch altitude, there will be short countdown
while the pilots and flight controllers run through a checklist
before SpaceShipTwo is released.

"Very soon after, we light the rocket motor and it all starts to
get really damn exciting," he said.

Passengers will feel about 3.5 times the force of Earth's gravity
for just over a minute, and another three to 3.5 push when the
pilots turn the spaceship from horizontal to vertical.

"It's quite an abrupt turn," Mackay said.

The rocket engine will be shut down at about 150,000 feet, close
to the edge of the atmosphere. SpaceShipTwo will keep climbing
until it reaches about 350,000 feet or so.

"By the time we're passing 200,000 feet there's virtually no
measurable aerodynamic loads on the vehicle. At that point we're
going to allow the passengers to unstrap and experience this
fantastic sensation of zero-g and float to the windows," Mackay
said.

Pilots will probably flip the ship over so passengers have a view
of the Earth from the roof-top windows.

"The best view is probably of the Earth rushing away from you,
which is quite exciting," Mackay said.

The apex of the ride will be between 62 miles and 68 miles above
the planet, and then it's all downhill.

"Before we meet the atmosphere, we orient the vehicle back around
to the entry position. It's got this very clever, unique
‘feather' system which will ensure that we always enter the
atmosphere in the optimal attitude. It's a very, very stable
attitude, a hands-free task for the pilots," Mackay said.

Gravity forces will build back slowly at first and then
accelerate, peaking at about 5.5 to six times the force of
Earth's gravity and then drop off. For the ride home, passengers'
seats will recline, which should make the forces easier to
handle.

Surprisingly, the flight back to Earth is expected to be just as
noisy as the rocket ride up, as air blasts the bottom of the
vehicle during its supersonic descent through the atmosphere.

SpaceShipTwo will decrease in speed and go subsonsonic (slower
than the speed of sound) by about 70,000 feet. The spaceship's
tail section, positioned forward for re-entry, will be moved back
for the glide back to the runway.

"It's a complication to the experience," Mackay said. "A lot of
people actually find them quite claustrophobic, and they tend to
get very warm. We think our system is both sufficient in
redundancy and safety."

That's not to say passengers will fly in shorts and T-shirts.

"Our customers will probably wear some from of coverall -- no
doubt it'll be very trendy and very Virgin -- and possibly some
type of protective headgear," Mackay said.

"They'll look the part," he added. "I think a lot of people
actually do want to look like an astronaut when they go into
space."

SpaceShipTwo's powered test flights are expected to begin before
the end of the year. Spaceport America is preparing for the
spaceship's first commercial flight in December 2013.